Category : spirituality
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Happy Thanksgiving to all! I hope you are well and taking this time to cherish your loved ones. Whether they be family, coworkers, or lifelong friends, give thanks to God for the people He has blessed you with.
If you find some time this holiday weekend and would like to listen to something out-of-the-ordinary, my grandfather’s radio messages are now online. Lennard Darbee was a healing evangelist from the 50s to the 80s. His radio broadcast, Rays of Faith, touched the lives of many.
I am making these 15 minute talks available via podcast at LennardDarbee.com. Please take some time to check them out. I plan to post one per week, and I have several hundred, so we should be adding new content for quite some time.
Now this story that I am about to tell is 100% true, no lie here. I grew up in fairly conservative religious home so faith had always been a part of my life. One summer when I was 14 or 15 my sister and I went to Guatemala to visit our grandparents and other family that we have down there. My grandmother’s home is very large and in her back yard there is a pool.
One Sunday during that summer we went to the Union Church where my grandparents go and the sermon was about Jesus walking on the water and how Peter was able to do the same. Now, maybe the pastor was saying something different then what I heard, perhaps he was talking about walking on the waters of life or something like that. Anyway, what I heard was that if you had enough faith then you would be able to do the same.
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One day while I was trolling through the bowels of the Internet I came upon a Website that said that Christianity is a delusion. It also said rather boldly, I might add, that their 15 minute video would completely shatter my delusional beliefs. Being intrigued by the prospect that my whole world view could be shattered in 15 minutes, I accepted the challenge.
Here is their argument:
[…If you knew an adult who still believed in Santa Claus you would think that they were delusional and indeed they would be. It is cute if a child does but if an adult does it is a delusion. (more…)
It was probably like 4 a.m. You could hear a pin drop in our dark bedroom.
Those were the years when I used to meditate a lot, including early morning meditations at 3 a.m. in our living room.
After half an hour of repeating my mantra in the dark while sitting in a half-lotus position, my legs would start to go numb and hurt a little. When the pain started to get real bad, I would get up and return to bed.
I would lie down. After a minute or so, just before I drifted back to sleep…
It would start… (more…)
It makes me sad that people can not have a reasonable debate about the two most important issues, politics and religion. I do not care what your views are, if you agree with me or not, what I like to see is someone who articulate and describe what they believe and why. Overall I would say I am a conservative Republican, however, to blindly follow one party is wrong.
I think that I am safe to say that both sides have their members that they are ashamed of, however, they need those people to be elected and as such they have to pander to them. You can find issues with any leader that you will disagree with, even the great Ronald Reagen. (more…)
Thanks to StumbleUpon, the most enjoyable social media/bookmarking site thus far (and the official choice of ADHD users everywhere), I was introduced to TED.com last month. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. TED began in 1984, bringing together the best and brightest from those three industries and thought groups. Since the '80s, TED has evolved into an annual invitation only conference where the most influential and/or innovative thinkers present the talk of their lives (limited to 18 minutes). TED.com makes the best of these talks available for free online.
Once a year, 50 speakers share with more than 1,000 visitors in Monterey, California. Topics cover business, science, the arts, music, and global issues. The best TEDTalks are provided online via streaming video at TED.com.
Granted, the majority of speakers appear to be atheistic proponents of evolution. This is somewhat disappointing, though not entirely surprising. Past speakers have included the likes of Billy Graham, so it's fair to say that the organization is open to most ideas as long as they are presented in the proper fashion.
The recorded TEDTalks are worth watching. Some are more mentally stimulating than others (check out the talks on memes and, surprisingly, Tony Robbins). 137 presentations are currently available online. Additional talks will be released on an ongoing basis.
TEDGlobal is a conference held every other year at various locations worldwide. The basic format is the same, but these conferences tend to focus more on development.
The TEDPrize is an annual prize awarded to three individuals who receive $100K and the granting of "One Wish to Change the World". The winners unveil their wishes at the annual conference, and the TED community comes together, pooling their resources, to grant each wish. Visit TED.com to learn more about past wishes granted.
For those of you accustomed to the collegiate Pew / Paideia society or other philosophical and sociological communities, these talks will resonate along the lines of cultural examination of what is, what has been, and what could be.
The only question remaining is, how does one get invited to TED? Send me an invitation. I'm in.
I will acknowledge the truth that parents need a place for their children to learn, to engage, and to socialize that will not scar them or taint their innocence. I wouldn’t want my kids listening to what I listen to or watching many of the films I watch. Since I am a P.I.T. (Parent in Training), my opinion might not be the most valid… but it is popular.
It all started when I left MySpace the first time in January 2006. I was sick and tired of the half-naked chicks everywhere via True ads. After some brief research, I found MyPraize, a Christian MySpace alternative. MyPraize is censored like there’s no tomorrow. It’s like youth camp and KLTY (boring Christian radio station) mixed together. Sorry, not interested. I set up an account, browsed around for 20 minutes, and then left (never to return).
My encounter with GodTube today was just the straw that broke this camel’s back. Seriously? GodTube? Why is it that Christians are always mimicking secular ideas? Christian musicians make music that imitates the sounds of secular artists. Christian television is seriously sub par. And now we get a whole new wave of sub-parness injected into web culture.
Am I anti-Christian? Of course not. I am a Christian. But I find isolation to be every bit as unrealistic as atheism. Why not just post your videos on YouTube? Why not use Facebook or Virb if you want to avoid the advertisements? At least you won’t only be online with Christians. My primary concern is this: beware of the bubble. It is the chief concern of American Christians to create protective bubbles in every sphere of life in which they can be “Christ-like” with each other but not have to encounter any of that nasty sin stuff.
Well, thanks but no thanks. From an adult non-parental viewpoint, I’d rather be relevant to the world than isolated from it. Now, when it comes to my children, I may sing a slightly different tune. Time will tell.
Want to know what kind of Christian resources I actually like? Why not!
BibleMap is a seriously cool site. Just type in the Bible book and chapter, and you will see where the action took place on a map of the Middle East. For all those times when the names and dates hold no significance to you, this helps you get a little more historical / human perspective of what was happening.
BibleGateway is my favorite site for reading the Bible. You get every possible translation for every verse in two dozen languages right at your fingertips, and the search function is easy to use. Search by book, chapter, and verse or by keyword.
EarlyChristianWritings is an excellent resource of writings from the early Church. It’s sorted by date, which helps you to get a sense of the maturity and development of Christian thought over the first two and a half centuries after the birth of Christ.
There are hundreds more tools and sites out there. My general rule of thumb is this: if it’s a useful tool, use it. If it’s for isolating yourself from the rest of the world, don’t waste your time.
